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Can you believe there are now six generations of Pokémon? Six!! That's a crazy amount of different creatures to collect. But which are the cream of the crop? Don't worry, Magikarp isn't actually one of them.

I am a PS3 owner and someday hope to be a PS4 owner, yet I am not at all dissatisfied with my choice to delay purchase, solely based on the current PS4 library. When I transitioned from a Playstation 1 to a Playstation 2, I was pleasantly surprised that I could for the most part rid myself of my PS1...

Welcome to the Game Revolution 2013 Game of the Year showdown!
Enjoy some well-written defenses of some of the year's best games, then vote on which game you want to see advance!
Today's round one match-up is: Papers, Please vs. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
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Papers, Please is brought to us by Lien!

Why is Papers, Please the best game of 2013?Is Papers, Please boring?How is Dragon's Crown better than Bioshock: Infinite?

All right then gang... I want you open this link in a new tab then work your imagination as you read the following text.

You are an Arstotzkian inspector working in your border office in charge of processing paper works for entry visa. Standing in front of you behind a glass screen is a lady, age 43 born in Yorko city in Kolecha, height 1.7 meters, weight 55 Kilos. you know all of this because she handed you all her documents she had on her. What she didn't know is that the office already knews everything about her, including the detail about her claiming she needs a working visa to pass the border. Something she is missing. You point this out to her, she gasps. At first she's surprised that the offices knows of this and rebukes this. But when she sees you ready the dreaded "Denied" red stamp, she starts to cry and begs for you to let her in. She starts listing all the atrocity of Kolecha, how they abuse woman, how there are deserters burning down towns and how she lost everyone but her son who passed the border here last month. None of this matters to you, of course, you are nothing but a worker for the glorious state of Arstotzka. It was when she asked you if you had any family of your own that triggered something in you. How dare she brings YOUR family into this. Your son died the day after his birthday from the common cold caused by your heat being cut out due to lack of funds. Your son's death created an uneasy tension in your household that the next day, you found your depressed wife absent that morning. She jumped in the river ending her life later that day, drunk. You spent days crying how your family has been destroyed... and now this stranger DARES asks about YOUR family? You place the red stamp down and ready the red button. What does it do? It brings out guards and takes the person away into a side room. What happens to them in there? No one knows except for one detail, they never come out. You give this ever hated lady one last stare and slide your finger under you desk, the tip of your index pressing on the switch mechanism... but what's this? Commotions outside?

"DEATH TO ARSTOZKA!"

A man climbed over the fence and is charging at the guards! He's holding something in his hand but you can't tell what it is. The guards are shouting out of a microphone "Stand back or we will shoot! By the motherland, stand back or we will shoot!" But the man still runs forward, an uneasy look on his face. The guns let out loud bang sounds, all the bullets hit the marks. The man falls on the ground in a puddle of his own blood but he starts to crawl... raise his hand up and presses on a button. "For KOLECHIA!". Your ears are still ringing from the explosion. The crowd outside your office are shoving each other, screaming for help, trampling each other. The lady? She ran away screaming before you knew it. You waited a short while and decided to peak your head out. The smoke cause by the suicide bomber is slowly dissipating into thin air, the stanch of the burned flesh forced you to cover your mouth. Aof the five guards stationed at your officer, three died, one is holding his bleeding neck caused by a flying debris and then there's your old friend in the green uniform, Sergiu, trembling like a lamb behind a wall. He is safe and sound but that scared look on his face as he stares back at you is saying other wise.

The office had to close early due to the terrorist attack. Meaning a half pay day. Once more, you must decide if you should spend the money on your heating bill or on your food supply. Your poor old uncle is sick and needs medicine, can he survive another night? You sigh, the day has been rough and all you want to do is go back to your apartment. When you enter your room, you are surprised to see someone else is there, treating your poor sick uncle. It's your sister's daughter! She came into your room with her luggage already set up on your floor and is welcomed by your mother in law. Without giving a thought, you yell at her to leave! You cannot even afford to have guests. Just like the lady during your work, she begs at your feet. Your sister has been arrested for treason, she has nowhere else to go. She is only 15 years old and isn't old enough to work. She claims she can do anything for you, clean the house, do the dishes, take care of your sick uncle. You want none of that and open your door. "Out!" She falls down on the floor, crying, praying for help. That when your mother in law runs to you and hands you a piece of paper.
It is your son's drawing he made for you on his birthday, the day just before he died. You remember how he trembled from his sickness, coughing up blood as he was handing this to you. You stare at this piece of drawing for a long time. You miss your son and your wife. You forgot what it means to have a family after all this time working at the border. How you wish for those days back enjoying the summer of Arstotzka, eating and laughing together as one family. But those days will never come back, it doesn't meant you cannot fix it. You just need to adopt your sister's daughter but that will mean more mouth to feed, more food to buy. Can you afford to work more hours at the border for this? Don't you have enough of seeing people begging for you, tears falling on their cheeks? You give one tired sigh and pat your niece's head. She can stay. You gaps for air ad both your mother in law and your niece hugs you stronger then any hugs you received in your life.

The next morning, you walk to your office but you see your old friend in green clothing, Sergiu, standing by your door. He still trembles, traumatized from what happened yesterday. He tries to offer you a smoke but his trembling fingers convince you to skip your morning ritual. Sergiu then presses his bandaged palms on his face. He has enough of this life. He wants all of this to end, the wars, the borders, the cold winter. And yet, he doesn't know what he should do next. Should he move out of Arstotzka and start life anew or should he bring his girlfriend here, aways from the war zones at the border? You only give him a silent look. The awkward silence stops when an impressive looking car parks at the distance.
It's M.Vonel, the border inspector himself approaching you. Sergiu gives you an apologetic pat on your shoulder and returns to his guard post, he knows you are going to have a rough time. Then inspector is peering at every detail of your office, sliding his finger on your desks to find any trace of dirt. He points out that the incident yesterday, thought was due to the war effort at the border, was also due to negligence of the border workers unable to foresee this incident. He then tasks you to do a full body search of every Kolechian citizen who walks in your office, no exception. The Geneva convention banned such practice but the glory state of Arstotzka will not stop for some petty international laws. He then stops his walk and asks you why your commendation aren't hanging on the wall. You forgot, after all the event that happened yesterday, you just forgot to hang your paperwork on the wall. He then faces you, his eyes piercing you through his round glasses and starts to lecture you.
"It is parasites like you who causes misery for our glorious states. You are not worthy to even hold an office for us and yet here you are! Do you think this is a charity? Do you think you are doing this for a show? Like a dancing bear in a circus? You are lesser then dirt! Expect half a pay today because of your indulgence. Do i make myself clear?"

Your lips trembles, unable to protest back. He walks away, slamming your office door behind him. All the stress, all the fear, all the sadness now overcomes you. As you fall on your chair, wiping the tears off your cheeks, you start to remember everything that happen thus far. And then you start to wonder what will happen to you today, or even tomorow? Will the war ever end? will the border open or will it close? What of your uncle? your niece? Your family? Will they be alright? You give a look outside, the crowd outside has been gathering in a single line. What about them?
There are elderly, veiled women holding their crying child, sick looking men coughing in their scarf, couples hugging each other to give each other warmth from the cold. They each have a story of their own, each will beg for you to let them pass. What about them? Will you let them pass? Did any of them faced the tragedies you yourself endured? Will they see more trouble after they cross the border? It does not matter, all you need to do is process their papers. You push your intercom button and welcome them to Glorious Arstozka. The first person walks into your office. You open your booth window and with an emotionless look on your face, like a mask hiding any humanity you once possessed, you follow your procedures and simply ask:
"Papers, please."

That... That my friend is just ONE day in the game of Papers, please. Each day, a tragedy, each day is a story to tell. One paper stamp at a time. This entire game is nothing but a roller coaster ride of Feels with tear jerking moments after another while in the same time, you have to struggle with budget management to support your family while getting the least amount of citation from your officers.

...Did i mention this entire game is a paper work simulation?

-Is Papers, Please boring?

Boring? no. Stressful? Yes. This entire game, though fictional, really highlights the danger and abuse border crossing immigrants faced back during the soviet block era. And yet, it does not follow the story of an immigrant crossing the fence, it's the story of the dude whose job is to let those poor blokes in or not. And boy, did those guys had a hard time i am telling you. With close to 12 different ending, the game takes course over a period of 30 days and constantly ask you if you want to keep your humanity. Even after you think you made the right decision, you start askign yourself if this was the right thing to do. Also yes, a border inspector has the power to save human lives or not. Do you let the starving mother through at the cost of your son's medicine? Do you help gun traders pass through unnoticed for a bribe? Do you denounce any suspicious person to a human right violation security check? Hey who cares about the UN bills of rights, that dude could be a terrorist! You, and you alone must decide with the help of a red and green stamp the fate of this country. can you afford the cost?

It's by playing this game that is barely 100 mega byte and only cost 5 bucks, that you'll realize how maddening a simple 3 hours long game can be more memorable and immersive then any of those millions of dollar spent games out there. Speaking of over-budget games with hardly any humanity put into the personality of average looking white guy...

-How is Papers, Please better than Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag?
Wait... you serious? Wow huh ok... Assassin's creed only redeeming features is the incredible informative details they put in the history context... that is in the documents they provide in the in game menu. Cause want me to talk about the recurring anachronism in each of the games in the franchise? From the stupid Mayan prophecy of the end of the world to the space alien gods that are too one dimensional to understand the concept of "freedom" with quotation marks, this entire game takes a huge dumps on history books. But no, the biggest offense in the entire franchise, is the FREAKING WHITE HOOD!
Want to know the context of the white hood? In a historical setting? In the desert of the middle east and north Africa, in medieval time, it was common for messengers to NOT wear black. Why? cause black absorb light, therefor heat. And those messengers would travel on horseback across the freakin' deserts with no protection from the sun but a white hood for days on end. The white color reflects light, giving a small protection against the heat. It made sense for Altair, the Arabian assassin (that by the way, Arabian immigrants invented parkour, a feature recurring in the franchise), to wear a white hood. It makes NO sense for a venician assassin to have the same hood, LESS sense for a native american to wear the same thing in the winter... and MUCH less sense for a pirate surrounded by water to wear some protection from the sun. They had to worry more about scurvy then having heat strokes you know...
But please, do tell me how, if you ignore the hilarious glitch, the graphic is amazing or how incredible the same repeated sword fight gameplay is. I'm all ears. Cause all i see is a bunch of french canadians who only looked at the pictures in their history books but never bothered reading the text. If they wanted a pirate sim, they could of just remade Side meier's Pirates instead of continuing a franchise that needs to die. Why is anyone nominating this game as GOTY when we got a whole lot of actual gems lying around? Oh yeah, cause Longo nominated this (another bad point in its favor). Doesn't he know that Blackbeard got al capowned?

First of all, holy hell, did you actually read all of what Lien wrote? There is more there than the entire content featured in Papers, Please. By the time you’re done reading that you don’t have much of a reason to play the game anymore, since it’s not going to do anything new for you there.

But on to business.

Pirates are the single coolest thing ever in history. Period. End of fucking story. Cooler than knights or cowboys or punching Hitler. I mean, what man in their right mind wouldn’t want to be like Henry Morgan, Bartholomew Roberts, Errol Flynn, Jack Shandy, or Guybrush Threepwood? Who wouldn’t want to be an old sea dog, feared and adored alike, living freely amongst democratic brethren? What, do you hate democracy?

Pirates are fucking great.

Now the problem is that there haven’t been many great actiony pirate games. Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Uncharted Waters work as simulation sorts of games, and other games like Sea Dogs kinda sucked.

But then came Assassin’s Creed IV, which features not only one of the best representations of pirates from the Golden Era of Piracy, but also fantastic ship to ship combat, great melee and stealth, and a plethora of things to do.

And you can be a pirate. What’s not to love?

Did Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag make a mistake by not abandoning the 'Animus' framing device? Would it have been better to just make a pirate game?

What, and have it not sell? Besides, while it did keep with a lot of the ridiculous sci-fi stuff from the previous games, it was hardly anything, instead serving solely as a framework to a more important story.

How is Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag better than Papers, Please?

Let’s be completely honest here.
The ONLY reason why Papers, Please is even somewhat regarded by anyone is because it was an indie game that turned out to not be absolutely awful. It’s a decent game that has about as much quality to it as your average flash game, despite still costing a Hamilton. It’s only 5 bucks less than Airport Simulator 2014, which is all that and more.

In contrast, Black Flag is a game that proves to be the best in a highly regarded series as old as this last generation of consoles, which is far from an easy feat.

The choice here is pretty obvious.

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Continue the discussion below and vote for which game you want to see advance to round two.PLEASE PUT YOUR VOTES IN BOLD

True story: that card right there is the topic of several paragraphs in my upcoming Papers, Please review. In draft stages right now. The phrase "badass motherfucker" appears at least twice. Clearly some of my best work.